Knitting machine with yarnwrapping fingers



April 24,. 1934. N. LEVIN KNITTING MACHINE WITH YARN WRAPPING FINGERS Filed Aug;.- 1,- 1931 Zmnentor 11%77794/7 .Zewh.

(Ittomeg Patented Apr. 24, 1934 KNITTING MACHINE WITH YARN- WRAPPING FINGERS Nathan Levin, Trenton,'N. J., assignoif to H. Brinton Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 1,

6 Claims.

My said invention relates to an attachment for knitting machines and it is an object of the same to provide an improved mechanism whereby a yarn may be Wrapped about a needle as in the case of machines for making narrow vertical stripes or dots and. other ornamental figures in a knitted fabric.

It is an object of the invention to provide means of this character which shall be simple, inexpenl0 sive, durable and not liable to get out of order.

Referring to the drawing which is hereby made a part hereof and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is a partial section of a vertical rib knitting machine embodying my improvements,= said section being on line 1-1 of Fig. 3, 3

Fig. 2, a similar view of part of an open-topped machine provided with my improvements, and

Fig. 3, a partial top plan of Fig. 2.

In the drawing reference character indicates the needle cylinder of a dial and cylinder knitting machine of known type said needle cylinder having slots for needles actuated by a cam in a ring 12. The dial 13 has slots for needles 14, as usual, which coact with the cylinder needles to knit a ribbed fabric. Cams 16 on the usual cam cap serve to operate the dial needles, they being driven by a sleeve 17 surrounding the dial post 18. A stationary sleeve 19 holds a bushing 20 supporting a finger cylinder 21. All the parts so far mentioned are or may be generally similar to what is shown in the copending application of Schlotterer, Serial No. 469,781, filed July 22, 1930, except for the features of the finger cylinder now to' be described.

According to the present arrangement the finger cylinder has merely a series of vertical slots 22 ofluniform depth except for a depression at 23 to receive the rocking bearing of a finger 24. The fingers 24 are distributed in any desired number about the machine, there being as many slots 22 as there are cylinder needles so that there may be a finger for each cylinder needle, whereby patterns may be made at any point in the fabric, which in this instance is atubular fabric made on a dial and cylinder machine.

The fingers are held in place, as usual, by spring rings 25 lying in a circumferential groove in the finger cylinder and are provided with eyes at 26,27, 28 and 29 for guiding the yarn into position to be wrapped about their respective needles. For guiding the yarn to the fingers from the usual bobbin plate or other suitable source of supply I provide a ring 30 which is secured to the finger cylinder 21 as byscrews 31 and which 1931, Serial No. 554,566

is provided with a series of passages 32 for yarns 33, said passages being arranged to cooperate with the respective yarn fingers. The ring- 30 is so shaped as to provide an outer bearing for a rotating table 34 which supports the bobbin stand and is driven by any suitable means, such for example as is shown in the Schlotterer application above referred to. The rotating table carries a cam 35 held by screws 36 and said table is provided with a slot 37 for said screws, whereby the cam may be adjusted circumferentially about the finger cylinder by moving the cam and screws bodily. A cam 38 is supported below the table 34 by a bracket 39 in position to act on projections 40 of the fingersfor insuring that the fingers will be moved to their innermost position by the needles, although the spring rings 25 will ordinarily be sufficient for this purpose.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to a rib machine such as that shown in Fig. 1 nor, in fact, is it limited to that particular type of machine, since the principle is capable of application in various machines both straight and circular, and in circular machines both in the type wherein the needle cylinder revolves and in that wherein the cams rotate about the needle cylinder. As one illustration of such capabilities, I have shown in Fig. 2 an open topped machine wherein the needle cylinder is indicated at 41, said cylinder having in its slots needles 42 operated by cams on a cam ring as in Fig. 1 and having coacting therewith sinkers or web holders 43 located in a bed 44 and operated by cams on a sinker cam ring 45. Yarn fingers 46 may be similar to those shown in Fig. 1, it being noted that preferably each of the yarn fingers here shown has its lower end twisted out of the plane of the' body of the finger, as in the Schlotterer application referred to, so that it will cam itself to one side of the needle as the finger passes through the needle row in crossing the same and will then spring over so as to cam itself past the other side of the needle as it returns, thereby wrapping the yarn about thx. needle. The sleeve 47, the bushing 48, the finger bed 49, the yarn guiding ring 50 fixed to the finger bed, the revolving table 51 and the cam 52 thereon may all be similar to the parts of Fig. 1 in construction and arrangement.

' It will be seen that in my improved device the slots 22 in the finger cylinder are of uniform depth except for the groove to receive the rocking bearings 23 of the fingers and that there are walls of substantial thickness between the fingers, these walls being spaced approximately the same distance as the walls in the needle cylinder, the periphery of the finger cylinder being interrupted only by the finger slots. The distance between the cam and the finger bed is greater than the arc of movement of the upper end of the fingers, so that the eye 26 need never move so far to the left in Fig. 1 as to carry the yarn into the finger slots, but the yarn will always be in a clear space between the finger bed on one side and the table 34 (and parts carried thereby) at the other side.

Similar considerations, apply, of course, to the open topped machinein Fig. 2.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the device herein disclosed, all without departing from the spirit of the invention; therefore I do notlimit myself to what is shown in 'the drawing and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a dial and cylinder knitting machine, dial and cylinder needles, revolving cams for actuating said needles, a stationary finger cylinder above the dial, needle-wrapping fingers therein, a revolving table coaxial with the finger cylinder, a fiat ring having flanges resting on the finger cylinder and the table respectively said ring having an annular body fitting between surfaces on the finger cylinder and the table, means on said ring for guiding yarns between the finger cylinder and the table to said fingers, and a finger-actuating cam on the table.

2. In a knitting machine, a circular series of needles, a slotted cylindrical finger bed, fingers rockingly supported in the slots of said bed with their lower ends adjacent the upper ends of the needles, lugs on the fingers projecting radially beyond the 4 slots of the finger bed said lugs having transversely-extending yarn-guiding openings at their outer ends, and a cam movable relatively about said finger bed to actuate said fingers by engagement with their projecting lugs, said openings maintaining the yarns outside the finger bed.

3. In a knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder, needles therein, a slotted finger bed, rocking fingers in said bed each individually related to a needle, lugs on said fingers said lugs projecting radially from the slots of the bed and havin transverse yarn guiding openings located radially beyond said slots, and a cam acting on said lugs to rock said fingers, said openings maintaining the yarns outside the finger bed.

4. In a knitting machine, a fingerbed having narrow slots, thin strip-like yarn wrapping fingers in the slots of said bed, upper and lower lugs on said fingers projecting outward beyond the walls of said slots,.*a rounded fulcrum portion at the rear of the respective fingers, transverse yarn-guiding openings on said lugs positioned outward beyond the walls of said slots in all positions of said fingers and cams acting on said projecting, lugs to swing the fingers positively to-and-fro.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder, a series of independent needles, a slotted finger cylinder above said needle cylinder, a table surrounding the upper end of the finger cylinder and rotary relatively thereto, yarn guiding fingers each individual to a needle mounted in the slots of the finger cylinder for rocking movement across the needle circle,- a

spring ring adjacent the lower end of the finger cylinder for holding thefingers in place with their lower ends at one side of the needle circle, a cam on said table facing toward the needle cylinder for moving the fingers across the needle circle in opposition to the spring ring, an annulus closing the space between the cylinder and the table said annulus providing a circular bearing surface between said relatively rotary table and cylinder and having openings for guiding yarns to said fingers, and lugs on said fingers adjacent the upper and lower ends of said cylinder maintaining the yarns spaced from the periphery of the finger cylinder, said cam acting on the upper lugs for movingsaid fingers.

6. In a knitting machine, a finger bed having narrow slots, thin strip-like yarn wrapping fingers in the slots of said bed, upper and lower lugs on said fingers projecting outward beyond the Walls of said slots, transverse yarn-guiding openings in said lugs positioned outward beyond the walls of said slots in all positions of said fingers, and means above said fingers for guiding pattern yarns to said openings in said upper lugs.

NATHAN LEVIN. 

